Get Ready to Rise With the New Black Panther TV Spot

By Travis Johnson

January 9, 2018

Marvel embraces Afrofuturism in the latest look at their next superhero blockbuster.

How cool does Wakanda look?

By this stage of the game the Marvel movies, by and large, have a narrative template that they’re either reluctant to or having trouble letting go of – seriously, what are the odds the bad guy is a dark mirror of our hero, hey? – but Black Panther at least looks and feels unique, and that counts for a lot. Taking a deep drink from the Afrofuturism well, director Ryan Coogler (Creed, lest we forget, and the great Fruitvale Station) is promising not just a distinctly black take on the Marvel, synthesising a whole swathe of aesthetic influences into the technocratic milieu in which the action takes place. That’s exciting enough even before you tip in the martial arts, acrobatics, and flipping cars.